Valley Voices Resident's Association; preserving the natural and scenic beauty of Shelter Valley in the Township of Alnwick/Haldimand, Northumberland County

VALLEY VOICES e-NEWSLETTER #32

October 28/05

NO - SVA has not gone away, and NO - the licence has not been granted, and YES, your Association is still working on your behalf.

1. Fun Fundraiser: The Shelter Valley Boys will be part of the entertainment at
V Vs’ Harvest Dance at the Vernonville Hall on Saturday, November 5, from 8:00pm to 1:00am.

Tickets are $15 per person and are available at the Centreton Village Store. Sandwiches, cheese and crackers, and baked goods will be served. We need volunteers to provide/serve the vittles.

Please call Debbie @ 905.349.9922 to offer your help.

Let’s express our appreciation of the work the fundraisers do by really supporting this social!

2. Congratulations to Margaret and her Golf Tournament volunteers. The tournament netted $1600 for the cause.

3. Our lawyer, Virginia Maclean, sent a letter on October 7 to the MOE, the MNR, and the MMAH. She dealt with three areas of concern: Compliance With The Municipal Act, 2001, and the Planning Act; Municipal Dump; Environmental Impacts. Her letter discusses a series of issues which have not been resolved to the satisfaction of V V.

The BoD has prepared a summary of the letter for the membership. Given the legal nature of the language and the discussion, preparing a summary was quite a challenge. Read the letter in full here.

Here is the reply from Drew Young (MNR) on October 26 and October 28.
AND read the November 03 response from Gayla Campney of the MOE here.

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Carol;

Thank you for the email and attached letter. I was aware that it was in the system. There are certain items addressed in the letter that I or my ministry have no control over and that will be better addressed by the other addressees or the municipality.

The items relating to protection of the former landfill site from the proposed extraction should it occur and the restricting of extraction to above water as proposed are matters that would be addressed should there be a licence issued for this site. These are matters that have been raised during the application process and have been discussed with the Ministry of the Environment. In addition, no decision has been made on the application and it is quite possible that the application and possibly the planning matters will be referred to the Ontario Municipal Board for their review.

Thank you again for the information. I have also copied this email to the Ministry of the Environment for their information.

Drew

October 28

Carol;

I don't know exactly what you mean by a deadline on the application. Applications can run anywhere from a couple of years to up to seven years or more from the time the proponent start to prepare the required reports.

The SVA application has completed the notification and consultation period of the application process which occurs over an approximate two year time period from the date of advertising the application. This period can be extended depending on other agencies review of the application. For example, the planning matters are still being addressed by the municipality. However, the MNR district office is currently finalizing review of all comments/objections and will most likely be making a recommendation to our Minister that the application be referred to the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) for a hearing. The OMB would then schedule a hearing which could be another year give or take.

In addition to the licence application there is also the planning process.
Any decision on the licence application is dependant on the outcome of the planning matters.
I am not sure what you mean with your comments about a lack of ability to restrict below water extraction. All new applications are either for an above water or a below water operation. If you obtain a licence for an above water operation then you are restricted to remaining above water. You may apply for an amendment to go below water but it will be subject to comments from the municipality, the Ministry of the Environment, the local Conservation Authority and from the Environmental Bill of Rights posting. ( Read the legal opinion regarding below water table extraction -VV) In addition to below water amendments, all major amendments are circulated to the Municipality for their comments.

Hope this addresses your questions but should you have any further questions let me know.

Drew Young
Aggregate Resources Specialist
Peterborough Area Team
Peterborough District
(705) 755-3109

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4. Here is what Chuck learned at the October 26 Planning Meeting:

• On Monday Oct. 24 council and SVA reached a settlement on a Development agreement.

• The County and Cramahe have been sent copies of the agreement and must respond by Nov. 18.

• These will be reviewed by the Township and SVA's Lawyers.

• There will be a Public meeting in Grafton on December 13, 2005* at 7:00 pm. Peter Joseph will speak to the planning issues. Wayne Fairbrother will speak to the legal issues. The meeting will then be opened for public comment until 10:00 pm.

• The agreement will be voted on at the Council meeting Dec 14, 2005*.

• The Planning Meeting is Dec 21, 2005* at which if passed the Zoning would be changed.

Per the BoD's Instructions, Chuck did not comment. Mr. Finley will see that VV gets a copy of the Agreement although no date was set for when.

*The December dates are tentative. According to Robin there must be 10 days between the zoning bylaw change and the Planning meeting.

November 03, 2005 email response from Gayla Campney, MOE

Thank you for your E-mail of October 25, 2005 about the closed landfill site on Turk Road in the Township of Alnwick/Haldimand and the application under the Aggregate Resources Act by Shelter Valley Aggregates Limited.

Please be assured that the issues raised by the legal firm Willms & Shier are being reviewed in detail by this Ministry. As the original letter from the legal firm was sent to Ms. Virginia West, Deputy Minister of Environment, a detailed response to the legal firm from Ms. West is being prepared. To ensure that you, as President of The Valley Voices Residents Association, receive the information as soon as available, I have requested that a copy of this letter also be sent directly to you.

I encourage you to review the information we will be providing you. If you have any questions, Mr. Allan Oberholzer, Area Supervisor, Peterborough District Office at 705-755-4307 has detailed knowledge of the file and will be pleased to assist you.

Thank you again for bringing this matter to my attention.

Gayla Campney
Regional Director
Eastern Region
Ministry of Environment
613-548-6901

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